Cheryl Schatz

gengwall said:

Cheryl and I agree about 99% of this passage but are quibbling over why the definite article was not introduced at the beginning. Neither of our positions alters our egal stance.

I agree! My point is that the definite article in verses 11 & 12 is not needed to make the passage to be about one woman and one situation but that the definite article in verse 14 is clearly used to identify one women with Eve her predecessor. Your position seems to be that “the” separates a specific woman from generic woman, while I believe it separates a specific unnamed woman from Eve rather then letting anyone be confused by thinking that all womankind are a type of Eve, and in the same kind of deception. This view was quite prominent (that all women were deceived) a few hundred years ago.